RICHLAND – After a swift first five innings that took all of 30 minutes, Lynden Christian almost batted around twice in the top of the sixth inning, scoring 11 runs, and then shut down Columbia in the bottom of the sixth before coming away with an astounding 13-0 victory in the opening round of the 1A State Tournament.
“I’m so proud of our team, especially our seven seniors,” first-year coach Tom Zylstra said. “It’s been one heck of a ride, and it’s happening at the right time for us.”
Sophomore pitcher Kassidy VanSoest allowed just six hits and struck out five batters in the complete game victory.
“We didn’t know anything about the other team coming into this game,” VanSoest said. “I just knew that we had to do our best as a team.”
Senior catcher Karsyn Postma, who came into the contest leading Whatcom County with 20 doubles, hit two more doubles in the game, and scored three times.
“Knowing that our season could end after one game, we may have came into this game a little nervous,” said Postma. “But once we got it under control, we knew we could win.”
Also leading offensively were seniors Annie Zylstra and Sharlotte Whittern who had three hits each, and five runs batted in between them.
With the win, the Lyncs will face second-ranked Royal tomorrow at 1:00, while Blaine will face Riverside at the same time.
W: K. VanSoest (16-11)
LC: Zylstra 3-4, 2 RBI, 3 R; Whittern 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R; Postma 2-3, 2 2B, 3 R, BB; Ka. Korthuis 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB; M. VanSoest 1-3, R, BB; Ke. Korthuis 1-4, RBI, R.
